Kennel Founded :
In the early '70's.
I was showing Siberians before I got involved in any kind of breeding program
 
Owner(s) of Kennel:
Jan and Terry Sigler

Occupations:
Jan: I am a secondary social studies and German teacher.
Terry: I was a secondary school administrator and then worked in college administration for 4 years

How did you get started in Siberians? How did you find your first show dog?

Jan: A friend of my father's (Anne Carlyle) had a Siberian puppy. I started showing the puppy and. He finished quite easily,
Ch. Kodiak of Leawood. That encouraged Anne to get another. She contacted Ed Samberson and got a young male who would become Ch. Kipnuk of Leawood. After that she purchased a dog from Judy Russell, Ch. Karnovanda's Stormy Bear and then a dog from Janis Church, Ch. Kognac of the Midnight Sun

What made you first decide to become involved in Conformation ?

I became intrigued with the show ring when I was in the 7th grade. I went to a friend's slumber party. Her father had field trial
Irish Setters. I thought his office was very interesting… the pictures, trophies and other memorabilia. At that point I didn't understand the difference between performance and conformation, just interested. It wasn't too much longer before I got my German Shepherd. When I expressed an interest in showing, my father, who had shown horses, was very supportive. He felt that I needed to train the dog and enrolled us in obedience classes with the German Shepherd Dog Club of Greater Kansas City. I finished the class ranking 3rd in their obedience match…out of approximately 25 dogs. I was hooked. My dad then entered my dog in some conformation classes. In the sixties we regularly had entries of 70 to 100 dogs at any show. He lacked the quality to finish. At that point we were only going to 5-7 shows a year. While I wasn't doing much in conformation, I was having a good time in Junior Showmanship. I never put a point on my Shepherd, but those 4-5 years were invaluable.
I learned how to lose.

Who was your first Champion?

It was a dog that I was showing…Ch. Kodiak of Leawood. He was an interesting dog.  We had tremendous fun showing him. He did a lot of winning. He finished at about 13 months.  This was the mid-sixties and Siberians weren't common. A friend of my father's was supposed to buy his wife an Old English Sheepdog for her birthday. He was unable to find one, so went to a neighbor who had a litter of Siberian pups. This puppy was out of Kiska Bolo Picket and Holly. Yes, those were the registered names. Clearly this was backyard breeding. Behind these two dogs were the dogs of Otto Berg. Berg was a local breeder…an “old coot” who sold his pups at the local shopping centers from the back of his truck. However, when you talked to other really “old time breeders” (one was Esther Gay, wish I could remember some others) they knew Otto…indicated he had actually brought dogs over from Siberia or down from Alaska. One of Otto's pups was purchased at a local horse show for a young rider named Judy Russell. That bitch was bred to Ch. Monadnock's Pando and became the foundation of Karnovanda kennels. However disreputable Otto Berg might have been, he did on occasion anyway, produce some decent dogs.

How did you come up with your kennel name?

All of the Siberians that I showed for the Carlyles were named (Something) of Leawood. All of the dogs names began with a K(Kodiak of Leawood, Kipnuk of Leawood, Katanya of Leawood, etc), so I chose to combine the K with the part of Leawood and came up with Kalea. It's a tribute to my earliest exposure to the Siberians.

Did you have a mentor?

No, not really. There wasn't really anyone in the area who could serve as mentor and with working full time, I wasn't able to travel outside of the area much either.

Which dogs in the early years influenced your breeding program and why?

When I first got involved with the breed, I would “drool” over certain dogs that I saw. Janis Church's Ch. Tonkova of the Midnight Sun, Judy Russell's Ch. Karnovanda's Ivan Groznyi, Ed Samberson's Meyko. I had the opportunity to show Ch. Monadnock's Midnight Mushya( a Mulpus Brooks the Roadmaster daughter, Ch. Diomede's Koritza of Leawood(a Savdajaure's Cognac daughter) and Ch. Lara Baronovna. I co-owned a quadruple Pando grandson, Ch. Cognac of the Midnight Sun and
a Ch. Dichoda's Yukon Red son, Karnovanda's Vindicator. The styles of these dogs varied considerably, but they were all sound, good-moving, attractive representatives of the breed.

When it came to breeding, I was never tied one particular look, style or bloodline, but then I was never trying to establish a deep on-going breeding program. We bred so we would have dogs to show. If I were trying to establish a breeding program, I would try to line-breed with occasional out-crosses….and I would do a considerably deeper study of breeding practices, including horses and cattle. I think Pat Trotter's books are an excellent source.

My most successful breedings were outcrosses….but both the dogs and the bitches were line-bred. In each case it was a “one-time thing”. In two of the cases, I had leased the bitch. I'm not advocating outcrosses, it was just what was reasonable to do. We had males that I wanted to breed, so I leased the best available bitch. We got lucky and had good dogs…several champions and group dogs in both litters.

What are you looking for when evaluating a litter and which litter do you feel was your most successful?

I look for the same thing in a litter or a puppy that I look for in an adult…soundness, type, balance, movement.

Which dogs or bitches were you most proud of, either in the whelping box or in the ring?

We certainly enjoyed the “spirit” litter. From that littler which we co-bred with my very good friend Karen Harris, came Ch. Kalea's Bold Spirit o'Karmett and Ch. Kalea's High Spirit o'Karmett. Both were group winners and together, they were really a lot of fun as a brace. Twice they won the National Specialty brace class and they had over 40 Best Brace in Show win...just really a lot of fun.

Structurally, were you able to maintain some consistency in your breeding program?

Styles varied considerably between the “Spirit” dogs and the “Guthrie” litter (Ch.Pole-land's Bound for Glory x Ch. Nikki of Adonai), a litter with 3 finished bitches, two of them group placing.  Styles differed, but both litters had soundness and good movement.

Which Siberians or kennels have had the most impact of establishing the style of Siberian that you prefer?

I can't say that there has been one or two…there have been many and again, I'm not tied to one particular style.

Do you feel that Siberians have changed in type, style and structure since you started in the breed?

Oh Yes. We are much more uniform in size and type than we were in the past. That has happened in the last 10 years or so. I am concerned that in our efforts to get away from dogs that were “overdone”, we are getting dogs that are too light-boned. This is something I have noticed in the last 3 or 4 years.  Don't want a heavy, draft dog, but don't want an Alaskan either. I am also concerned with how short some of our bitches are. Overall, I don't think we move as well as we used to…not as much side-gait. 

You also see judges awarding dogs that have less than desirable rears…”hocky”, close, occasionally wide. I think because other breeds have stressed side gait over “coming-and-going”, it has transferred
over to Siberians. We have to remember, we want sound. Siberians are almost universally recognized
as one of the soundest dogs in the ring. That is a trait we do not want to lose.

Stay tuned for Part II

Ch. Kalea's Bold Spirit O'Karmett, aka Spirit and Ch. Kalea's High Spirit O'Karmett, aka Megan